Seat belts that dont retract properly

pbeechner

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Yeah, I find that I can deal with the weak pull on the seatbelts rather than spending $420 for a new pair.....

I usually bring the seatbelt up so the belt is perpendicular to the b-pillar and it goes in better because of less resistance on the belt. Do this every time I get out of the car....

Something to try out :shrug:
 

01_Svt venom

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Mine had the same problem. I got a driver side one from tousley ford on here for less than $100 but its already doing the samething so i just deal with it. It last maybe a year
 

SilverNotch

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I've heard of opening the retractors and tightening the springs? I would suspect that the spring inside is similar to a pull start on a lawn mower just a wound up coil I'm going to take them apart tonight I think.
 
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turnpike_cruise

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I've heard of opening the retractors and tightening the springs? I would suspect that the spring inside is similar to a pull start on a lawn mower just a wound up coil I'm going to take them apart tonight I think.

Please update this thread with your results. I am curious if your plan works. The ones in my car work half-heartedly. If you get them to work, I will try it also.
 

fast ford brian

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I tried that last year . One turned out perfect , the other one the spring broke . Tousley is the way to go , just get one at a time and your wallet won't hurt so bad !
 

Brutal Metal

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be careful when you take the assembly apart and trace your steps or you'll have some little parts that don't seem to fit anywhere..
 

bighunt

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My passenger one got jacked up last month- stuck halfway and wouldn;t pull out or retract.
I took it apart, pulled it all of the way out, and straightened it up and made sure it never twisted. Before it twisted across my passengers lap, and going from the ear on the pillar down into the retractor it had a twist also. You have to try like heck to get the seat buckle to twist on the belt and get straight, but I haven't had any problems.. (well.. come to think of it, I haven't had a passenger ride with much since I fix it... go figures!)

It's worth taking off the panel and trying to get everything straight before you replace it IMO
 

SilverNotch

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Mine are twisted a bit I'm going to fix that and when I get a chance I will tighten the springs. I kind of want to replace the carpet if I'm going to pull the panels out and seats.
 

trickability

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I need to fix this as they are driving me nuts.
Pull them out all the way and spray both sides with lemon pledge and wipe with a cloth. The pledge leaves the belts slick and they will go in much faster. After a while you can repeat if nessasary. I have done this on several cars ......
 

SilverNotch

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Ok maybe I'll try that. I took out the back seat today the first time since I got it. You really don't know what you'll find when you take out carpet and seats but, I found a bunch of change, lots of interior screws, speaker wire, maybeline lip gloss, and a hollow point ruger 9mm live round. I'm going to mess with it tomorrow before work hopefully I can get them done.
 
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3B99SVT

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I've never worked on a Mustang seat belt retractor, but my daughter's Corolla seat belt wouldn't retract. Disassembly of the actual return spring was similar to the link above (which is a good link!). I just wanted to add that the reason why the Corolla's seat belt wouldn't retract was the grease on the retractor sping was so old that it was sticky and wouldn't slide well. The link just says to add a couple more turns to the preload. If you actually can get to the spring itself (I, unfortunately, had to rewind the one on the Corolla), try putting some lithium grease or some other low viscosity grease that shouldn't east plastic) on the spring itself (a Q-tip may help) between the wraps. If I ever have to do it, I would do what the link says about holding the center from spinning w/a screw driver and then count the turns to get to zero tension. Then I'd get rid of as much of the high viscosity grease and add some lithium grease. Then wind it up to the same preload and reassemble. Good luck!
 

SilverNotch

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Thanks will try that I'm going to get to it this weekend. I had a long last week and had to work 6 days so I was tired. Now I have to mess with my wife's Elantra sounds like the brake clips on my front brake job aren't holding up so I'm going to have to change the hardware.
 

SilverNotch

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So, today I got the rear seats and got to the seat belts it was pretty easy took about 15 mins. I took the seat belts out with the t50 torx bit I bought. The problem on mine wasn't the spring tension from what I see. The belt was folded up in the mechanism so I took a lot slack out and this was hard. I took that plastic stop tab off the belt to get enough slack. I pledged the belt to get it to slide now it's all straight. I will test it in the car before I reinstall it.
 

SilverNotch

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They still don't retract properly. This should be a recall honestly as a safety issue. I'm going to the junkyard to try and find a used set. I'll let you guys know what I found. As far as taking the spring side apart and winding it up, the case is plastic so to hold it in place with a metal screw driver? Its just not logical because it just eats away at the plastic.
 

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